Modern work in economic history by people like Robert Fogel (1964) and

Modern work in economic history by people like Robert Fogel (1964) and Albert Fishlow (1965) shows

(a) that railroads were the indispensable key to rapid economic growth in the 19th century.
(b) that the levels of Gross National Product (GNP) reached in 1890 would have been reached
in 1880 had it not been for reckless railroad speculation.
(c) that less than 5% of the country’s late 19th-century economic growth was attributable to railroads.
(d) none of the above.

ANSWER

(c)